Preemptive Notice: Parker Road Fire Station
Fairhope, for the fourth time, Mayor Kant is going to try and put a fire station on Parker Road—a dead end street intersecting the most dangerous intersection in Fairhope—Parker Road and 98 at Publix.
Eight people have been killed at this intersection and over 100 accidents have occurred here.
Remember, Fairhope’s fire department is all volunteer, and all firemen will have to race to this station, negotiating the intersection, jump on a fire truck and renegotiate the same intersection.
The Dirty Secret
The dirty little corrupt secret is that Arthur Corte, the developer, filled Fly Creek with red clay, causing the most environmental damage of any approved planning and zoning project in Fairhope.
The project has spawned multiple lawsuits and as of yet Mr. Corte has not been held responsible. The clay is now moving downstream, filling the yacht club’s channels. The city plans to use tax dollars to dredge the yacht basin—still not holding Mr. Corte responsible. Do Arthur Corte and Tim Kant actually believe all the red clay in Fly Creek will just stay there? It hasn’t and it won’t.
Why a Fire Station at Parker Road?
The answer is development, connectivity and political corruption.
In Mr. Corte’s original application to planning and zoning he pledged the corner lot on Parker Road for a fire station. After his project was approved, he sold that parcel to Iberia Bank for $1 million.
Then Corte gave Fairhope a lot in his proposed subdivision behind Publix on a dead end road facing the High Ridge Neighborhood. His development plans have the fire station located on his subdivision site giving him huge benefits for his private development.
Any further development of the site is going to negatively impact the creek and wetlands further—but he could not give a damn.
The Long Range Plan
Here is the long range plan: Build the fire station, then claim connectivity problems, paving the way for Parker Road to extend into Rock Creek. Once in Rock Creek Mr. Corte will connect Sandy Ford to Highway 13. This will favor his development plans greatly. However residental areas in Rock Creek will now be the shortcut cut to Highway 13.
Mr. Corte and Mayor Kant have enjoyed a cozy relationship of favors at our expense. The triangle lawsuit was a result of their actions—costing us millions. It should also be noted that the Publix strip mall has maintained over 25 percent vacancies since construction.
How They’ll Do It
Here is how Mayor Kant and the city council will do it—with little or no public notice, hearing or participation. Let’s go back to the triangle lawsuit.
On May 8th 2013 the city council held its scheduled meeting with a pre-council printed agenda. The first issue of that meeting was Mr. Ford wanting to add something to the agenda. Usually these items are announcements or relatively unimportant issues. What Mr. Ford introduced was a motion for the mayor to settle the triangle lawsuit for $12 million. Attorneys, engineers and experts were all present, but we, the public, were not invited. These are the same attorneys Fairhope taxpayers paid $3 million to for losing the Dyas case. Even worse, Fairhope still employs Hand-Arendall—a major contributor to Mayor Kant.
The council and mayor along with the attorneys representing the lawsuit settlement, planned and executed this heist deliberately, leaving the public in the dark. Would you call this ethical or transparent?
In July and August of 2009, the fire station proposal fell flat due to overwhelming complaints about safety, traffic and connectivity. One interesting thing was that the triangle was recommended as a possible alternative for the location for the fire station—and it would be a better location. Our mayor said he totally agreed, but that the triangle lawsuit clouded that possibility.
Guess what Mayor—you just settled a $12 million lawsuit—trying to convince us it’s a park—however Fairhope now owns the Triangle. The only reason to put a firestation on the Parker Road site is for Arthur Corte to forfill his desire to build more neighborhoods and to connect Parker Road to Highway 13 through Rock Creek.
Take Action
Don’t bother to call the mayor. Call council president Jack Burrell and tell him no! Don’t trust the council to do the right thing. Get involved and voice your opinion.
E-mail: [email protected]
Call Jack: 251-510-4496
If you want to know what is going on in Fairhope and Baldwin County—information you will not get in the local newspapers—like us at “The Ripp Report” on facebook and Baldwin County Legal Eagle.